A Question of Balance
by Fireline
Summary: The Evil Dynasty has returned somehow and recruited some new female Dark Warlords. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the girls spend more time fighting their own inner battles than trying to capture the Ronin Warriors and exWarlords. Undergoing Revision.
1. Default Chapter

This is my first Ronin Warriors fic. I've only seen from where Ryo gets the soul swords of fervor to the last episode and then the first episodes up to where Cartoon Network cut it off, so forgive me for some mistakes. If I do make them, _please_ tell me in your review. I never check my email so don't bother sending flames. If I get them I'll just pass them on to my crazy cat so she can shred them.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to what belongs to the creators of RW or YST.

My Guardian and Rogue Elementals are my own, though elementals not a completely original concept. People or creatures that lean towards one element or another are like unicorns and dragons. No one can claim rights to them, so I'm not trying. However, what is not in either RW or YST is mine and mine only as is the plot other than the basic Dynasty vs. Ronins stuff.

Chapter One

Blue-green eyes followed the action playing out on the field of battle before her. From her vantage point high in a tree, Deception could see every detail of the battle between her imitation Dynasty soldiers and the Ronin warriors. No, the visibility was not the problem. Deception was simply unable to concentrate on the whole of the battle. Time and time again her gaze returned to the one called Halo. Something about him was frighteningly familiar.

Banishing that thought from her mind, the spy turned warrior decided she'd learned enough of the Ronins' fighting styles to take them on herself. Grinning evilly she waved a hand at the soldiers causing them to revert to their original shapes. The five boys gasped as their opponents changed back into the metal trash cans Deception had created them from.

"What!" yelled the one in red armor. _Who is he again? Ah, yes, the Ronin leader, Wildfire._

The one with the blue armor (Strata perhaps?) poked gingerly at the can nearest to him. "These trash cans are definitely real. The Dynasty soldiers were too. I don't think this can be an illusion."

_Smart boy, _she thought.

"I don't know about that. Dais' illusions seemed pretty real when they attacked," said the orange warrior.

_Grrrr! How DARE they compare me to that traitor! Illusions indeed! I'll show them! _Deception nearly exploded with rage. She leapt to her feet and opened her mouth to speak. She didn't see the branch above her and was not wearing a helmet. As a result the branch, or rather her head's collision with it, made her head throb and she suddenly felt dizzy. She took a step backwards—into midair. With a dull thump she impacted with the hard ground and lost consciousness.

The Ronins heard the noise and came running to investigate. They stared in disbelief at the motionless armored figure.

Cye's jaw dropped, "We've had a strange day, but this is the strangest. It seems our enemy has defeated herself!"

"Maybe she drained herself of power doing whatever she did to those trash cans?" suggested Rowen.

As he spoke the girl moaned almost inaudibly as her sub armor faded away to reveal remarkably average clothing. What caught the attention of the Ronins though, was the kanji that glowed briefly on her forehead, though it vanished too fast for them to read it.

Ryo broke the shocked silence. "Is it possible she's one of us?" he wondered aloud.

Sage moved silently toward the girl with the obvious intention of helping her.

Kento grabbed his arm, "Wait! She's probably one of the enemy! Didn't you see her armor?"

"Kento," said Rowen, "she could be like the Seasonals. Besides, she's human. We can't just leave her."

Ryo looked curiously at Sage. The eyes of the Warrior of Wisdom held an expression of shocked recognition. "Sage?"

Sage blinked, "Yeah, Ryo?"

"Do you know her?"

"If I do…" he sighed and shook his head. "I haven't seen her for six years, so I can't be sure."

"You _think _you know her?" asked Cye.

"Can we take her back to the house? There are more than enough of us to knock her out again if she _is_ an enemy," Kento said.

Sage felt the girl's head. "She should be out for a while. I wonder what hit her?"

"We can ask her that when she wakes up," said Ryo. "Let's go."

_Brrrrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnng! Brrrrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnng! _

"Hello?"

_Unintelligible speech from phone._

"Yeah, he's here. One moment," Kento covered the receiver with one hand and yelled upstairs. "SAGE!"

There was the sound of running feet.

"Some guy at the hospital wants to talk to you!"

Sage sped down the stairs and snatched the phone from his friend. "Hello? I'm Sage Date."

_More unintelligible speech._

"Yeah, I have a cousin with that name."

_More unintelligible speech._

"She's what!"

_More unintelligible speech._

"Yes, I do know what that means."

_More unintelligible speech._

"Okay, bye."

Ten minutes later the Ronins and Mia were gathered in the kitchen. Cye frowned helplessly as Kento raided the refrigerator.

"So," began Mia, "why did the hospital call Sage?"

Ryo looked down, expecting her to be upset that they had kept the story to themselves. "Yesterday," he said, "we found an unconscious girl lying in the woods after a skirmish with Dynasty soldiers. Sage's healing powers didn't seem to work on her and we didn't want to bother you, so we took her to the hospital."

"Sage thought he knew her from somewhere," contributed Cye.

"And?" prompted Mia.

"She has amnesia," Sage said. "She can't remember anything that's happened in the past four years and before that seems hazy too. The doctors don't know if it's permanent. It does seem selective to them. She may only fully recover if she wants to or if something she considers important triggers it."

"And this concerns us how?" asked Kento.

Mia glared at him, "If she doesn't remember anything she has no place to go! Also, she may be a victim of the Dynasty and you _did_ find her."

"Was there more, Sage?" inquired Rowen.

"She thinks her name is Cera. I have an adopted cousin called Cera about her age."

Dead silence.

"Maybe she's a Ronin warrior," said Ryo.

"Why would you think that?" asked Mia.

The boys explained in as much detail as they could the odd occurrences of the previous day.

"I still think she's one of the what-ever-they-call-themselves. Dee-quarts or something," said Kento after the story was told.

"Demoness Quartet," corrected Cye and Rowen.

"Even if she is, "said Sage, "she wouldn't remember that. She couldn't be dangerous without her memories."

Understanding the unspoken request Mia smiled, "Okay, she can stay here. There are too many boys already. I'll go pick her up. Who's coming?"

"I am!" said Sage and Cye as they followed her out of the room.

One week later, Cera thoroughly surprised everyone by offering to cook on Rowen's turn. Her real reason for saving them from the blue archer's infamously bad food became clear when Kento snuck into the kitchen to 'check on things' later. The moment he stepped through the door the blond girl pounced on him.

"Why do you avoid me, Kento? What do you have against me?" she demanded.

The Ronin Warrior of Justice didn't know how to answer her. How could he tell her he thought she might be a Dynasty spy? She might not even know about the Dynasty!

Kento was saved by the pot on the stove as it started to boil. Cera released him and started a panicked search for some ingredient. He watched in horrified fascination as she added chunks of fresh pineapple (where did _that_ come from?) and finely chopped celery to whatever she had cooking. Suddenly recognizing her air of careless confidence as a symptom of Rowen-style cooking Kento fled, nearly knocking over Cye in his haste to escape.

"I hope Kento hasn't been bothering you…" began Cye after he recovered his balance.

Cera doubled over in helpless laughter. Cye looked on in confusion. "Cera?"

"Ha ha ha! I'm s-sorry, Cye… It's just… He he he!" she choked on her laughter. "I'm assuming Kento has never seen pineapple and celery cooked together before?"

"Probably not," confirmed the boy. "Where did you find pineapple? What _do_ they go together in?" He walked over to look in the bubbling pot. It was filled with a pale cranberry colored fruit mixture. _With celery!_ "You do know what you're doing, right?" he asked nervously.

The girl raised her head form checking on the oven temperature. Her turquoise eyes were filled with confusion and terror when they met Cye's sea green ones. "No," she said quietly. "I don't know how half those ingredients just happened to show up, and I really don't know what this is that I'm cooking."

Cye stared at her, and glanced surreptitiously around the kitchen. What was going on here? "Are you sure some of this just appeared from nowhere?"

She nodded, "If you want an example, there's some really nice rose-petal jam that seems to have replaced this morning's leftovers." She indicated the counter.

Cye remained frozen in place, "There… There were leftovers this morning!"

Cera's expression cleared for a moment as she began to resemble the happy and friendly girl who had laughed so hard at Kento's rushed departure. Then her eyes darkened again, "Yes, there were. I know it's hard to believe, but Kento showed remarkable restraint this morning at breakfast. He acted like he thought I might have poisoned the food." The bubbling noise interrupted her again and Cera stepped over to stir it. About three stirs later Cye and Cera both felt an odd tingle at the back of their minds.

With feelings akin to dread Cye opened the oven. Cera came and peered over his shoulder inside. The two exchanged looks, "Green bean casserole?" questioned Cye.

The blond girl laughed shakily, "Not quite what I had in mind, but it'll have to do. It was going to be roast potatoes…" she trailed off.

Cye closed the oven door, "It should be done in about half an hour. I'll come back to help you then. See you in a bit, Cera." _Since when to potatoes turn into a casserole half way through the cooking time?_ He thought. _I have to tell someone about this. Mia and maybe Lady Kayura?_

"—so that's what's happening," Cye finished. "What do you think?"

Mia finished her search on the computer and sat back in her chair. "I don't know, Cye. There's no information about anything like it I can find."

"Do we know how to contact Kayura?" he asked hopefully.

Mia's eyes lit up, "Yes! I have the phone number of the place they're staying."

"Okay, can you call her? I promised Cera I'd help her finish dinner," Cye said, looking at the clock.

"Don't worry, I can handle it. But I don't think anyone should eat until I've talked to Kayura," Mia said.

The moment the Ronin of Trust entered the kitchen he knew something was wrong. Even if the fact that Cera was crumpled unconscious on the floor holding the refrigerator door handle had somehow escaped his notice, the large concrete flower pot sitting where the refrigerator had been would have told him.

_Where are the others?_ he wondered. _Surely they would have heard or sensed something… _Then he remembered that Sage and Rowen were out training away from the house (Cera didn't know about the armors), Kento had fled after seeing Cera cooking (who knew where he was now), and Ryo had just left with White Blaze to find Sage and Rowen for dinner. Mia was still chatting with Kayura on the phone. He picked the girl up carefully and moved her to the couch in the other room. She seemed to have collapsed from exhaustion. Somehow the memory of Ryo collapsing after using Inferno's power jumped into his mind. He shook the thought out of his head and went to check on the food.

Somehow the casserole was perfect. The fruit mixture had apparently been deprived of sugar, so he added some. He set the table silently and sat down in a chair to wait for the others.


	2. Dreaming of Rainbows

This chapter is lamentably short, and always has been. Disclaimer is in the first chapter.

Chapter 2

When Cera opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was that her surroundings seemed to shift and change without warning. She felt as if she was stumbling through a dark projection room. There were areas of darkness and then bright flashes of light and color. After a few minutes of this everything became white and then faded to a neutral blue. Wisps of mist curled about her and she heard snatches of voices.

"Cera!"

"Wait, Sincerity! Don't go!"

"You… You… You lied to me! Deception, how could you?"

"Join Talpa? Are you crazy, Despair?"

"No one cares about the real us here in this mortal realm. We're better off in the Dynasty, Destruction."

"That's absurd, Dementia! You can't really believe that!"

"Dark Warlord of Deception, I have a task for you."

"Demoness Quartet, destroy the traitors Dais, Kale, Sekhmet, and Kayura, and capture the Ronin Warriors!"

"Cera… Sincerity…"

"Rainbow Elemental Deception."

"Deception of the Rainbow of Elements."

"Cera of Deception."

"Dark Lady of Deception."

Abruptly the voices stopped. Everything dissolved in a flash of green-white light. Once Cera's eyes readjusted she found herself in a brightly lit forest by a river. Without consciously making the decision to do so, she bent over the water and looked at her reflection. With a yelp she jumped back from what she saw. Regaining her courage she looked over the bank again. The image of a girl with rainbow colored hair and orange eyes looked back at her. The features were vague, and had a transience to them, suggesting that they might be washed away with a ripple. Cera studied the apparition closely. _Cool hair_, she thought as she gazed at it. It began with black shading to deep violet and then through the rest of the colors until it became a thin band of white in the middle and then repeated the pattern backwards until it ended with black again at the ends. Looking the image in the eyes Cera found they had become blue-green. _Just like mine_, she thought. As this occurred to her the girl shimmered and was replaced with Cera's own reflection of dark blond hair and turquoise eyes. With one addition. The kanji "sincerity" glowed on her forehead. Her reflection rippled and then became the rainbow girl again. Her eyes were a dark green color now and on her forehead there was a rainbow with the kanji "balance" in the center.

Cera abruptly remembered the names and voices she'd heard and what they had mostly had in common. "Deception," she murmured.

The rainbow girl shook her head sadly before morphing to Cera's image. Sincerity glowed brightly. "_Sincerity," _she whispered. "I don't understand. Is this a message or some demented side effect of my head injury? Demented… Dementia! Dementia, Despair, Destruction, Deception! What do they mean!"

She became aware suddenly of the wind that had risen with her words. It whipped around her tearing branches off, uprooting trees, and blowing water into her face. The wind increased its furious attack pulling her into the air and spinning her about until everything became a grey spiral around her. The storm rose in intensity until the girl was certain she would be torn apart too. And then it stopped. With a shriek of terror Cera sat bolt upright on the sofa and opened her eyes. Ten confused and surprised faces met her. "Umm… Hi?" she said and grinned weakly.


	3. Thoughts and Memories

If you want to see the disclaimer look at the first chapter.

Long time, no post! Sorry about the long wait! I lost my first draft and then my computer time was restricted. I will try to get the next part posted before we go on vacation. You can expect it next week or sometime in the middle of August. Thanks for your reviews! I wasn't sure if anybody was really reading this! I'll apologize for the cliffhanger in advance. It's not a big one. Now, to continue the story…

Chapter 3

"Cera? Are you sure you're okay?" demanded Cye at dinner for the fiftieth time.

The girl clenched her hands around her napkin and ground her teeth. "Just fine, Cye," she growled. "Please don't ask again, I'd hate to hurt you."

The ex-warlords, Ronins, and Mia stared at her in shock. Had Cera just threatened Torrent?

Avoiding their eyes, Cera dropped her gaze back to the food on her plate. _I still can't believe this started out as roast potatoes_, she thought. Then she blinked. _Roast potatoes? Eekk! They're back!_

Cera jumped back, knocking over her chair and startling everyone present. "Okay, I take it back. I'm _not_ okay!" she said as she quickly dragged the chair back into position. She fled up the stairs. Moments later the others heard her bedroom door slam.

Cera flopped on the bed and starred at the ceiling. She pulled the small recording device from under her pillow and turned it on. "My life is one huge confusing mess. First, my presence in the kitchen and frustration with the absence of the ingredients needed to make the few recipes I half-remember causes other foods to become them. Then the refrigerator turns into a large concrete flowerpot. How do I know I'm the cause of this? I don't. It's just a feeling of familiarity. Like this is something I should be used to, only, I'm sure I should have it under control.

"Next is the fact that after the refrigerator's transformation I collapsed from exhaustion. Some power I have is doing this and I think I wore myself out unconsciously. That's why I'm linking the … the… the occurrences to me. Oddly enough the idea that I have powers or special abilities of some sort doesn't alarm or excite me. It just feels… It feels right.

"Now I have more to think about. That… was it a dream? Hallucination? Vision? Memory? Whatever it was it threw a lot of names and images into my head. They're like what happens when cornstarch and water are mixed in the right amounts. They seem to have form, but when I try to pick a bit out to look more closely it melts through my fingers.

"Hmm… The names… Cera Date. That's me. My real name is Sincerity, but I've been called Cera for as long as I can remember. I'm reasonably sure that that name is not my only name. Rainbow Elemental Deception. So, I'm convinced that part of me is that rainbow-haired girl I saw. But how? I'm also sure that Deception of the Rainbow of Elements, Cera of Deception, and Dark Lady of Deception are also me.

"My life must have been really strange. Dark Lady of Deception? Who called me that and _why_? That voice didn't sound like a friend who might be teasing me. What is the Demoness Quartet? There were more than 4 voices. Who is Despair and why was she considered crazy for suggesting joining Talpa—who _is_ Talpa? Who did I lie to? Who was ashamed of Dementia and why? Who is Destruction and why did she think we'd be better off in the Nether Realm than in the Mortal Realm? I can guess that the Mortal Realm is Earth, but what _is_ the Nether Realm?

"Are Dementia, Despair, Destruction, and I the Demoness Quartet? Who are the Ronin Warriors? Why is the Demoness Quartet supposed to destroy Dais, Cale, Sekhmet, and Kayura? How are they traitors? How do I know my overactive imagination hasn't simply taken parts of fiction stories I knew before and made the story of my life out of them?" she sighed and reached to turn off the recorder. She flipped the switch, paused, and then turned it back on.

"I just don't know. I'm so unsure of myself. It is in my nature to watch other people. I notice things. Things like Sage's unwillingness to spend time alone with me, Kento's suspicions that I might poison him, Ryo's disappearing acts, and the fact that Rowen thinks of me as some sort of experiment. Cye is the only one who treats me normally, but I somehow feel that he is compelled to try to trust everyone. Mia is nice, but I don't know how she really feels about having me here. Now there are four more people to observe. I still don't know their names and me intuition is telling me that I'm going to be in trouble when I do find out. There is something very odd going on here. For one thing, almost half of the people in this house have weird hair. It's a cool-weird and not a freaky-weird. I'm also sure it's natural! Another thing is that green-haired guy's eyes. He reminds me of a snake. I don't mind snakes though—he seems like one the way Cye makes me think of dolphins." Cera heard sounds outside the door and turned the recorder off again. Leaving the tape recorder on her bed she went to investigate.

Cautiously she opened the door and looked about. There was no one is sight except for the large white tiger she knew was called White Blaze. She grinned at him, relieved that she didn't need to talk to any other humans yet. She thought again how odd it was that she could feel safe in tiger's presence. He wasn't exactly tame, she knew. The big cat moved past her into her room. Cera closed the door and tuned back to the recorder on the bed. Cera settled down on the floor with her back against the bed and rewound the tape. As she began to play back her recorded thoughts and feelings the tiger came and lay down next to her. He rested his head on his paws and looked at her with intelligent brown eyes.

"—if the doctor what right, what could be so bad in my past that I would choose to repress part of my memory? Even subconsciously… But maybe they're right. I don't feel particularly bereft. It's ridiculous to think that I'm used to amnesia and there is the obvious blow to the head, but I don't feel…"

She reached out to White Blaze and began to slowly rub behind his ears. He seemed to appreciate the attention. She fast-forwarded the tape a little.

"I met Ryo's tiger today. He seems more friendly than most of the boys in this house. Speaking of boys, why are there five of them living with Mia anyway?"

Cera turned device off and put it back beneath her pillow. She had just resolved to discover the secret the boys and Mia were hiding when the tiger began to growl softly. She froze and was swamped with a sense of approaching danger.


	4. Hope of Despair

The plot starts to pick up in the next couple of chapters. This is the last old chapter I had to revise. Please read and review. Flames are even welcome. I said in the first chapter that I never check my email, but I do now. About once a week. ANY feedback is welcome. Many thanks to the reader who contacted me in December. I might never have considered this story again, otherwise. See, all you lurkers? Readers do have power to influence the authors. Exercise it!

It's been a while, so I'll put in another disclaimer.

Disclaimer: What is in RW or YST does not belong to me. In fact, if you can recognize it, it's a good bet that it's not mine.

Chapter 4

The tiger got steadily to his feet and walked to the door of her room. Cera followed him and opened the door with shaking fingers. White Blaze bounded down the hallway and leapt down the stairs. Cera was suddenly feeling very self-conscious and forced herself to walk to the railing and look down to where the boys and Mia had been eating with the strangers. The table was deserted, but had not been cleared. Cera listened intently to the ominous silence and was rewarded with the faint sound of a door opening and shutting. White Blaze padded silently toward the front door and stopped as he reached it to give Cera a long measuring look. It was as if he had evaluated her and said firmly, "Don't go outside. It might be dangerous."

Cera frowned at the tiger. "I'm not listening to you. I'm going out there no matter what you think."

White Blaze blinked at her. _What! You'll get hurt!_

Cera walked down the stairs and to the door. The tiger blocked her path. "Come on, White Blaze! Let me out!"

The tiger's growled protest was drowned out by the rolling thunder. The sounds of clashing weapons could be clearly heard. Suddenly the tiger launched himself at the girl, pinning her to the floor. A spear was firmly embedded in the door. Cera was terrified but determined not to show it. Pushing the tiger off, she pulled it out and examined it.

_Hmm… _she thought. _If I can turn one food into another why not weapons too?_

_Because you can't remember how to control your powers?_ suggested some part of her mind.

_I think I can do this!_

_Do what exactly?_

_I don't know yet. Just be quiet and let me concentrate! _

White Blaze watched, concerned. The girl stood like a statue holding the spear. Abruptly she dropped it and threw the door open to dash outside before he could move to stop her.

The gray-armored soldiers were swamping three armored figures figure. Two others were trying to get to them and three more besides were scattered. Cera felt oddly immune and detached in her observations. A soldier noticed her and turned towards her raising its weapon above its head. She watched in slow motion as it came towards her. It was only about a foot away when a sword blocked it.

Two things happened. She shook off the detachment, but remained frozen in place as a whirlwind of knowledge crashed into her. Ronin warriors. Dark Warlords. Demoness Quartet. Dark Lady of Deception. Suddenly she understood. Her life flashed before her eyes and Cera gasped as she realized the most important facts of her situation.

She was alive. And away from Talpa.

"Cera!" it was Sage's voice. He turned from destroying the Dynasty soldier and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Cera! Are you all right? Why didn't you stay inside?"

With great effort she yanked her attention from past to present. _Sage of the Halo. My adopted cousin. Saved me. I'm Cera of Deception. Sage just asked me something. Oh, of course. Am I all right?_ She blinked, took a deep breath, and found that time had returned to normal. "I'm fine, Sage. Thank you for rescuing me. You should go help your friends." _Can I defend myself from any other attacks? Naturally, I _am_ Deception. _"I'll be okay."

Sage was clearly confused. "You're not in shock are you?" he asked worriedly as he released her. "You do realize that I'm wearing mystical armor and there are soldiers from a place called the Evil Dynasty attacking us, right?"

Cera gave the bearer of the armor of Halo an irritated glare. "Do I act like I'm in shock? I know you're a Ronin Warrior, Sage!" _And I know all about Talpa's Evil Dynasty in the Dark Nether Realm, Halo._

He gaped at her. "How?"

"That soldier must have triggered some forgotten knowledge or something. Never mind, now. It's not important. There is a battle on. I can keep myself out of trouble. Go help the others." She pushed him back into the fray and slipped back into the house.

She ran through the house until she reached the balcony. She summoned her maroon and dark indigo sub armor and tried not to attract attention while watching the fight. Despite their full armor the Ronins and Warlords were wearing out. For every soldier they destroyed two more took its place. Seeing the hopeless situation struck someone as funny.

Mocking laughter flowed around them, whispers of approaching defeat and despair. Cera felt a compulsion to join in, but suppressed it determinedly. She saw the soldiers retreat as she withdrew to the house to watch from a window. She opened the window a crack to hear. The laughter seemed to be choosing a singe direction to come from now. A figure materialized in front of Ryo of the Wildfire. He was looking tired.

"Who…"

"—Am I?" finished the figure. She sounded young and female, but the looks and voices of Dynasty warriors were often deceiving. She wore pale blue-gray and dark gray hooded robes with sub-armor of the same colors visible barely beneath them. Within the shadows of her hood her eyes glowed an eerie stormy blue-gray, although Cera knew them to be violet naturally. A wisp of hair the color of pink-gold was all that escaped the dark confines. "I am the Dark Warlord of Despair: the third member of the Demoness Quartet. Your resistance is futile. Cease your efforts and surrender now or face the consequences," her cool voice made those within earshot as if a ball of ice had formed in their stomach, but hot lava was flowing through their veins as feelings of hopelessness warred with anger. There was no emotion in that command. Despair was simply stating what she saw as fact. The silence was dark, heavy, and tense. The Ronins were tired already. They knew that if the newest Warlord was to attack they would be able to put up little defense. Despair must have known this as well. What was she waiting for?

Banishing her sub armor, Cera flattened herself back into the shadows. She now had little doubt that this latest attack was due to her disappearance from the Dynasty. There was no point in wasting all those troops on a regular attack. Talpa suspected treachery, or that the Ronins had captured her, and was waiting for someone to let something slip. She could feel Hope searching for her through the link and closed her mind to her friend. She didn't want to reveal herself until she was sure what was going on. Ryo was speaking. His words were defiant and utterly useless. He wouldn't defeat Despair just by talking. She wasn't even listening to him, more preoccupied with finding the missing Deception.

There was a rumbling sound behind her and she looked to find White Blaze growling at her. She wondered for a moment why he seemed so upset by her. She realized that she had unconsciously been tapping her rainbow elemental abilities and sunk into the shadow element to feel more secure without her sub-armor. White Blaze was having trouble recognizing her. Her appearance had changed. She had black hair and eyes and a gray aura. She was different to his eyes and the shadow energy in and around her must have been doubly confusing to a creature as sensitive as the tiger. She frowned in concentration and separated herself from the shadows so she appeared as just Cera.

The tiger growled at her and looked puzzled. With a sigh the rainbow elemental summoned just enough Dragon Energy to understand his meaning without changing her appearance. White Blaze was a very special tiger. Cera could tell he could sense the change. He rumbled again. The sound was no different to her ears, but now she understood what he meant.

Who/What are you? 

"You know me. I'm Cera. But, I'm also a Rainbow Elemental. I have certain secret abilities. I'm an armor bearer, too. I'm Deception," she explained.

Something changed in White Blaze's deep brown eyes. His meaning was clear: Why aren't you out there helping them? 

She looked out the window again. Ryo and Hope were facing off and the other eight were polishing the soldiers off. No more were appearing to take their places. "They don't need my help." _I can't give it to them anyway._

You really believe that? The tiger's eyes were filled with reproach.

_Or maybe… Maybe I'm afraid to face one of my best friends as an enemy._ She closed her eyes as a sudden wave of anger, desperation, and pain crashed over her. She recognized Dementia through the bond and fought with all her will to keep herself from reaching out to her. _Talpa must be punishing her for something,_ she thought dimly and blacked out.

When she came to again White Blaze was licking her face. She couldn't have been out for more than a couple of seconds judging by what was going on outside. Most of the Dynasty soldiers had been destroyed and the Ronins and the other four were slowly winning. Sage and Cye were limping, but Cye looked dazed. He was totally out of it and his reflexes were almost non existent. If Despair attacked Ryo now he wouldn't last long, but Cera had an idea to help without revealing herself to Hope. It suddenly occurred to her that she could remember everything except the month before and month after entering the Nether Realm.

She watched silently as Despair finally attacked Ryo. White Blaze started to leave to help him. The tiger was still unhappy with her. Cera took a deep breath and released the thread of Dragon Power and called upon Fire. She searched out the Wildfire armor and fed raw fire energy into it and the air around it. She felt the armor respond to its element and Ryo began to regain strength.

Despair, who had had no weapon to begin with (she was notorious for going places totally unprepared), had stolen one of Ryo's katanas to fight him with. Now it was getting hot. Very hot. She yelped and dropped it. Ryo snatched it up and prepared to use his sure kill. Despair noticed the other Ronins and ex-warlords approaching and uttered a final threat before she teleported. Ryo stared in puzzlement at the twin katanas.

"Where did all that heat come from? There's no volcano around here!" he said.

Rowen put an armored hand on his shoulder, but then snatched it away as the heat surrounding Ryo threatened to cook him, despite Strata. "Don't worry about it, Ryo. They're gone."

"For now."

The five Ronins jumped and turned to face Cera, who was standing in the doorway next to White Blaze. Cye blinked at her. Sage and Cale winced at the sudden movement.

Cera walked outside and surveyed the damage done to Mia's property. Mia herself appeared and at first looked horrified at the mess that had been made of the landscape and then more upset at the state of the warriors. Kayura banished the Armor of Cruelty in favor of the Ancients staff. The males shed their full armor, but kept their sub-armor on.

Dais said, "You don't seem surprised, Cera."

Cera looked at him fully taking in his voice and his appearance before answering. The part of her that was still Talpa's Dark Warlord of Deception attempted to stir her old animosity towards the ex-warlord who had betrayed her master, but fell silent as the Rainbow Elemental, Deception, squashed it firmly. Sincerity, the girl who had recently recovered from amnesia and had spent a week and a half in the company of her enemies without knowing it, was undecided about nearly everything. She could not help these people, but she couldn't hurt them either. Not knowing them as people rather than targets.

"This is nothing new to me, Dais of Illusion," she replied uncertainly.

The white haired ex-warlord frowned, "But how you know anything of this at all? Aren't you just Halo's cousin?"

Kento interrupted, "Hey! How do you know who he is? We never told you Dais' name!"

Sage spoke up, "You started to come outside when they first appeared. I stopped that soldier from hurting you and you seemed a little out of it, and then I asked if you were in shock." He stared at her, "You told me you already knew about the armors and the Dynasty."

Cera was beginning to feel nervous about everyone staring at her. She tried to come up with an explanation that they would accept without questioning her too closely. She could not reveal her elemental powers. They would expect her to use them to fight their war and that was against the rules. Elementals could not directly interfere by using their powers unless the balance between good and evil was truly threatened or the enemy had also broken the rules that governed the Elemental Guardians of Balance. _Ordinarily I wouldn't give this any conscious consideration, but I guess I'm still recovering._

"I don't remember exactly how I found out," she began finally. "That close call sort of helped me recall some of my memories and what I knew at that time." It was not a lie. She honestly didn't remember when or how she had learned of the Dynasty and the armors.

The ten people looked at her and each other. Cera could tell that they did not totally accept her explanation, but might be content to let it sit for now.

"So, you aren't here to spy on us for Talpa?" Kento asked.

She smiled halfheartedly at him, "Not as far as I can remember. Not that that's saying much. Besides, if I was a spy for Talpa—"

"Then it is Talpa who's been attacking us?" exclaimed Mia.

_Why are they so surprised?_ "Yeah, I think so."

Dais's one eye glared at her. "Go on, Deception. Finish what you were saying."

Cera stared blankly at him. To which Deception did he refer? And how did he know her? She didn't remember meeting him as Talpa's Dark Warlord. She though she would have, as he was her intended nemesis. "Umm… If I was a spy for Talpa I would have tried to come up with a better story."

Silence reigned for a moment. Then she said softly, "Interrogate me later, okay? I have the feeling that you're only standing because it hasn't occurred to you to fall down."

As if on cue Sage and the blue-haired man with the scar collapsed.


	5. The Demoness Quartet

As promised, a new chapter and some revision by the end of January. Okay, so it's really close, but there's more to come this year! I took a creative writing class last year and I hope to improve. It might be too late for this story, but any others should be better. I seem to have lost the original second half of this chapter. As always happens in such cases, it was better and longer and you all would have loved it as much as I did. Alas, it has been tidied into a stack of papers in a corner or accidentally destroyed or something. I thought I'd typed it up once, but it must have been lost when my external hard-drive melted.

Look at the first chapter for my disclaimer.

Chapter 5

"Sage!" shouted the Ronins.

"Cale?" Kayura said incredulously. Well, Cera assumed she was Kayura.

Until this moment, the only ex-warlord whose identity Cera had known for sure was Dais. He had been Deception's specific target and considered the most threat by her. She had studied him extensively. Now, she could figure out the others. Kayura was the female. Cale was the fallen blue-haired man. Sekhmet had to be the one with green hair. Then she remembered the situation.

Sincerity studied Sage's injuries. Compared to the others he was rather beaten up. He was semi-conscious. He looked like he might have even been poisoned too, but she doubted Hope would have bothered. Sekhmet would be able to cure that. Despair might have done something magical to him instead. Cera briefly placed her hand on his forehead and sighed in relief. His kanji, Wisdom, glowed a soft green as Halo tried to heal its bearer. She removed her hand and glanced quickly at the other Ronin warriors. They were muttering words of concern and encouragement for the most part. Cye was looking at her with a curiously intense expression.

Feeling rather foolish she murmured, "He's not sick."

Cye blinked at her. "That's good. We wouldn't want him to die." There was something amiss in his sea-colored eyes as he spoke. His accent was diminished too. Oddly, his tone reminded her of Dementia.

Deception's eyes narrowed. "Of course not."

The boy blinked again. "Why are you looking at me like that, Cera?"

She turned away to watch the ex-warlords and Cale. "Perhaps I wasn't really seeing you," she answered.

She left before he could respond and went to look at Cale. Kayura was examining him, and Cera fancied she was given a suspicious once-over as she settled next to her.

It was obvious from the beginning that his injuries should not be enough to keep him down. Cera knew that he'd taken worse abuse in the past—from both Talpa and the Ronins—and kept fighting. She went back to the moment that both Halo (Sage, she reminded herself) and Cale had fallen. They had collapsed simultaneously with similar symptoms. Sage's incapacitation was almost convincing as a result of his injuries, but combined with the blue-haired man's led her to believe a spell had been placed on them. Magic was their forte, after all. She vaguely remembered that Mentia had befriended them when she learned that they practiced magic, but why had they ended up with Talpa? The gap in her memories was most distressing.

But now wasn't the time to worry about it. Hopefully Kayura would come to the same conclusion and Cera could stay out of it. She would have enough explaining to do as things stood now. She thought back to her fateful attack on the Ronins and winced internally. Her memories were strange—like a stranger had taken over her body and left her memories behind for Cera to view. How could she have been thinking like that? Had Talpa done something to them, or had she really changed so much in those missing months? _Do I really want to know?_ She shivered at the dark place that thought led to. She would obviously have to tell these people _something_ and she couldn't say, "Yes, I attacked you on Talpa's command and wanted to kill Dais. Did I mention that Despair's attack likely happened because I went missing and that part of me loathes you all? That I don't know if the current situation is a result of my planning a careful trap for all of you and it may be that I'm playing an expected role, even if I don't remember it? No, I don't remember being a spy, Kento, but I give it a thirty-percent probability. It seems to be what I remember doing for Talpa, after all."

After Cale and Sage had been properly taken care of and wrapped in blankets and bandages (which in their mostly unconscious state they could not protest), Cera faced the remaining warriors. Kayura had detected the spell that was keeping them insensible, but been unable to remove it. It was a form of magic she was unfamiliar with and reluctant to tamper with. _Definitely Despair's work,_ thought Cera. In any case, most of Despair's magical repertoire had a set time limit. Hope's power was not that great. Defiance, Destruction, and Dementia were by far the strongest magically. Wait—Defiance? Who was Defiance? The name had come so easily, but nothing else seemed to be attached to it. She put it aside for later consideration. Her memories were obviously less complete than she had hoped.

They sat around the table, ignoring the casserole/potatoes. Ryo began the questioning: "Who are you?"

It was the logical place for him to start, but not something she could answer properly. Cera decided to just start talking and see what came out. "I don't really know. I remember being adopted into the Date family and Sage remembers it too, so I feel I can almost trust that memory. My name is Sincerity, but I'm usually just called Cera. Of course, at some point I started being called Deception. It's the name of my armor. Ours—the Demoness Quartet's, I mean—all look like your sub-armor, and I don't think they're as innately powerful. I think the armors of Intention are another failed attempt that Talpa split up into several parts and tried to match with suggestible young magic users. I don't know how we ended up with him. There's a whole block of time—two months, maybe—missing from my memory. One moment I'm in school, and the next thing I remember is literally bowing before Talpa." She fell silent, lost as how to continue.

Rowen asked the question they'd all had in mind for weeks. "Why do you call yourselves the Demoness Quartet?"

Cera wanted to laugh, but could only manage a weak smirk. "It annoyed M—Talpa. There were too many of us to be a proper quartet. My friends—you remember that the last thing I remember before the memory gap is school?—came up with the name for our school Talent Show. Our talent was to perfectly sing any score put before us. Pop, classical, opera, any language… We rigged it, of course, but not like everyone thought we did. We didn't know the music the judges were going to give us, but we cheated with magic to link our minds and voices. We held the whole auditorium in thrall with song-magic. They thought it was perfect. _I_ know that I forgot to breathe before the second chorus and nearly ruined the whole thing." She frowned. "It was Mentia's idea. None of us would have considered enspelling the whole school if she hadn't suggested it. I think," Cera said slowly, "that we might not have done a lot of things without Mentia. De-mentia, now. The only true demon among us."


End file.
